Valentine’s Day is one of those holidays that I have always loved making DIY home decor for.  It’s fun to make crafts for all holidays, but for some reason it just seems fitting that, for this holiday, most of my home decor should be created from the heart.  Even better is when you can use the “base” of a past project to create a new idea…which is what I have done with the DIY Valentine Branch Tree.

In November, we worked on gratitude and created a fun “Gratitude Branch Tree.”  We painted some branches black and cut out leaves with different kind acts that the grandkids could perform during the month.  In the end, we had a beautiful fall tree.  Well, I just loved the natural look of the branches in the vase so I held on to them (of course I did….I’m a craft object hoarder!)  Below is a picture of the festive DIY tree.

DIY Valentine’s Day Branch Tree ~

The great thing about this Valentine’s home decor craft is that you are using bits of nature along with items you most likely have at home coupled with some ornaments from the Dollar Tree.  I am a part of The Sustainable Craft Challenge hosted by Julie @ Sum of their Stories  where we are challenged to create a sustainable/eco-friendly craft to share.  This is how the DIY Valentine’s Day Branch Tree came to life.

Above are the branches and vase that I had saved….knowing I would find another use for it! Use this link to see the simple steps of how I painted the branches for the DIY tree Gratitude DIY Branch Tree Post!  I know you may be looking at this pic and thinking, “Mimi is one crazy woman….that tree is U…G…L…Y!  Give it time my friends…a little imagination goes a long way!

Gathering Items Needed ~

It is so satisfying to go through old items saved that you just KNEW will come to good use later…am I right???  I know I am not the only one that saves small scraps of material and/or paper after cutting from another project!  This fun tree full of different hearts is a project where those scraps will come in handy!

• Branches (2 – 4 depending on size desired)
• Vase
• Vase Fillers (of your choice)
• Embroidery Floss
• Embroidery Needle
• Scissors
• Pinking Shears
• Burlap (or material you desire…does not have to be burlap)
• Hot glue gun & glue
• Ribbon
• Heart ornaments (I bought mine at Dollar Tree)
• Chalk/Chalk pen (if using chalk heart ornaments)

Fabric Ornaments How To ~

I saved burlap material from my daughter’s wedding…how fun that I am now making a craft of love from that material?!?!  I used a heart stencil that I had to cut hearts out of the burlap.  You can draw your own or use any heart cutout you may have laying around to create your heart form.  The beauty of these are that you can make them any size you want.  I chose to keep mine on the smaller side.

Double the material and cut your hearts out using pinking shears.  I wanted the frayed edge to give it more of a rustic look.  Thread your needle with a double strand of emroidery floss.  Tie a knot in the end of your embroidery floss and start by coming up from the bottom.  This secures your knot at the back of the heart where it will not be visible.  Use the simple stitch to come up and down through the holes in the burlap until you have gone completely around the heart.  Tie off again at the back of the heart.

The original idea for these ornaments came from this adorable DIY Heart Pillow pin!  These are made by the Super Z Outlet and are just so easy and cute.  These would be super cute on the DIY Valentine Branch Tree as well.  I chose to change it up a bit and created the burlap hearts instead.  I actually think it would be fun to make both kinds of heart pillows and mix it up!

Message In a Bottle Ornaments ~

I absolutely love these!  When I was strolling the aisles of Dollar Tree, these little gems caught my eye.  An exact idea of what they were going to be used for wasn’t yet formulated in my mind,  but I KNEW something would come to mind!

I told you paper scraps come in handy too!  I cut small rectangular pieces of pink paper and rolled them up as a scroll or letter and stuffed them in the bottle.  Cork it off and voila…you have adorable Valentine message in a bottle ornaments.  To hang them I wrapped a piece of jute string completely around the top of the bottle (just under the cork) and tied a knot and then tied a knot in the very end of the jute to create a loop for hanging.

Other Ornaments for DIY Branch Tree ~

Below is a picture of the items I purchased at Dollar Tree.  All of the items purchased didn’t end up being used (but you KNOW I’m saving those babies for another fun craft so stay tuned!).  I used the lace ribbon to tie through the holes of the small wooden hearts to hang.  A chalk pen was then used to  write candy heart messages on the chalkboard heart ornaments and then hung with jute.

I also had small black ornaments (not shown in picture above) that had been purchased at Halloween and never used….they were great little fillers for my DIY Valentine Branch Tree.  I used the pink ribbon to create a loop on the back of the burlap hearts using hot glue.

Final Touches ~

Use a pretty ribbon of your choice to tie around the top of the vase to add some flair to the vase.  A 2″ wide burlap ribbon was used in this example.  The metal gift tags in the picture above can the be used to add to your bow on the vase.  Using the chalk pen, I wrote Happy Valentines Day and then nestled it in the burlap bow.

I had so much fun creating this little home decor project for Valentine’s Day.  The Sustainable Craft Challenge is so fun because it pushes you to go through pins you have saved and never made and use them to make a new craft come to life.  Be sure to check out the other members of the challenge and see what they have created…their website links are listed below as well as the name of this month’s craft they have made using the theme name of LOVE …

Julie – Sum of Their Stories – Upcycle A Plastic Container With Paint Pens

Vicky – Vicky Myers Creations  – How To Make A Cute Paper Heart Garland

T’onna – Sew Crafty Crochet – Valentine’s Day Gnome Scarf

Gail – Purple Hues and Me – Wire Hanger Soda Can Heart Wreath

Julie – Treasures Made From Yarn – Heart Garland

Terri – Our Good Life – Wine Cork Phone Holder

Christine – Christine’s Crafts – Easy Valentine’s cards using paper scraps.

Niki – Life as a LEO Wife – DIY Place Card Holders With Free Valentine’s Place Cards

Mel – Decor Craft Design – DIY Love Container For Valentine

Jo – A Rose Tinted World – DIY Heart Garland from Upcycled Cards

Marianne – Songbird – DIY Lace Valentine’s Hearts

Allyson – Southern Sunflowers – How to Decorate a Tin Can Planter

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you!  I hope your day is filled with love and laughter!

Much Love ~

Mimi

The post DIY Valentine Branch Tree appeared first on MiMi-a great name for grandma.

Originally Published on https://mimiblog.org/blog/

Shelly Latinovich Blogger